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it will only happen if Wallace lowers his demand to be paid over $11 million/season, it's really all up to him.

are we a better team with Mike Wallace? of course we are...

is Wallace worth over $11 million/season? IMO, no he isn't.

You could make the case that Wallace is worth $11M per season.

But for the Steelers, they can make the case they should only be on the hook for $2.7M + $10M + $10M +$10M over the next 4 years. Or roughly $8M/yr. And the Steelers deserve a discount to trade Wally some money up front, some security, some guaranteed dollars, and accelerating the payment. Probably $6-7M/yr over 4 years or $7-8M over 5-6 years. Wally's got the tough decision of what he can live with. He can gamble on the $2.7M for this year and go for forcing a trade next year for a huge payday. He can swallow his pride and take some guaranteed money and set himself up for life and eliminate risk and take quite possibly a lot less. And then the 3rd decision point is length of contract. Does he want to walk the middle ground and have a shorter contract with some guaranteed money so he can re-do a bigger contract down the road. Or does he do a longer contract to get more money now.

Given the games he's playing he may go for longer and more money now. And then go MJD on us in a year or 2 when he feels he wants more. I'd be almost nervous to sign him given what he just did as the Steelers. I'd almost prefer to let him play out this season at $2.7M. Franchise and decide what to do next year. And see how some of the other WRs pan out.

Given his skipping of camp, who knows if he'd pull some stunt in the future to try and get paid? Is it even in the Steelers best interest to try and do a longer term contract at this point? or just wait it out and let it go the way it goes in the future?

I have read several articles where that was stated, here is one where John Clayton reports it:

Mike Wallace returning to Steelers soon?

August, 14, 2012
By Jamison Hensley | ESPN.com

Mike Wallace's holdout could be coming to an end shortly.

Wallace, the Steelers' leading receiver, is expected to report to the team before the regular season begins, according to ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter. This doesn't guarantee that Wallace will be catching passes in Week 1 -- Schefter prefaced this with "he always could change his mind" -- but this is the first indication that Wallace is not planning to extend his holdout into the regular season.

Wallace, who has yet to sign his $2.7 million restricted free-agent tender, only needs to be on the roster for six weeks to be eligible for unrestricted free agency next season. So, there was always a chance he could repeat what Vincent Jackson did in 2010 and sit out the first 10 games of the regular season.

ESPN's John Clayton predicted Wallace will return to the Steelers before the start of the regular season in his weekly mailbag because Wallace will lose $159,000 each week in salary.

According to Clayton, the Steelers are offering a five-year contract worth more than $50 million. Wallace wants around $11.5 million per year.

The Steelers have the upper hand on Wallace for at least the next two seasons. Pittsburgh can keep him as a restricted free agent in 2012 and a franchise player in 2013 for a grand total of $13 million. An average of $6.5 million is a good value when you consider the team is offering $10 million per season.

Talks on a long-term contract with the Steelers won't resume until Wallace reports back to the team. That's why it makes sense for Wallace to do this sooner rather than later.

The franchise tag number for a WR likely won't fit under the cap for us next season. But a long term deal, properly structured, will.

Correct. That is the fundamental problem. The Steelers would only be able to offer Wallace slightly more than they gave Brown perhaps with some more guaranteed dollars. However, even to do that they are going to have to shed some significant salary. Say goodbye to Harrison? Hampton? Clark?

That's not even factoring in trying to extend Pouncey who will be due a really big raise or trying to keep Mendenhall and Sanders.

If he signs his contract tender and reports to camp, Steelers receiver Mike Wallace won't be allowed to play in preseason games, per the NFL labor agreement.

Mike Wallace’s preseason is effectively over even before it started.

If the holdout wide receiver reports to the Steelers and signs his $2.742 million tender Sunday or Monday, as his teammates believe he will, he still must sit out three days under the NFL labor agreement. That would keep him out of the final preseason game Aug. 30 against Carolina and prevent him from practicing until Labor Day weekend.

According to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, Wallace already has an understanding of Todd Haley’s new offense, despite not being with the team since last season.

“I talked to him today. He’s excited. We’re excited,” Roethlisberger said Wednesday. “He’s been working, and he’s been working not just on his conditioning and strength but working through the offense. If he’s been putting the work in he’s telling me he’s been doing, he’ll be fine.”